Chocolate Box Girls: Bittersweet by Cathy Cassidy Page A

into the flower bed and shrugging my guitar over one shoulder. I walk away, Dad yelling my name into the darkness.
    For once, I just don’t care.
    I walk through the silent village, street-lamp spooky, and out along the dark lane that leads to Tanglewood. The sky is scattered with stars and my eyes adjust quickly to the dark, but I am scared. What if it all goes wrong, if Cherry won’t see me, if Paddy and Charlotte set the dog on me or call the police?
    Don’t just sit back and accept things
, I remember.
Go the extra mile.
    What’s the worst that could happen?
    I push the gate open and crunch across the gravel, beneath trees hung with solar-powered fairy lights, a leftover from the summer. The house is in darkness, silent, sleeping. I hear Fred the dog barking from inside the house and Humbug the sheep bleating from his stable, but I walk on until I am positioned beneath Cherry’s attic window.Picking up a handful of gravel, I throw one small pebble upwards in a swift arc and hear the satisfying clink of stone on glass.
    A light goes on, but it’s the wrong light. The room Skye and Summer share. Great.
    The twins appear at the window, then the sash slides up and Skye leans out.
    ‘Shay?’ she whispers. ‘What the … ?’
    ‘Shhh,’ I say. ‘Please? I know what you think of me, Skye, but give me a chance – I just need Cherry to hear me out.’
    ‘Finch rang me this afternoon,’ she says softly. ‘He explained. To be fair, Honey’d been saying the same thing too, but we didn’t listen …’
    ‘You’re speaking to me?’ I ask, wide-eyed. ‘You believe me?’
    Summer leans out of the window alongside her twin.
    ‘Of course we do,’ she says. ‘We’ve been texting you all day … Cherry has too!’
    ‘She has?’ I grin. ‘My mobile’s dead. Sorry!’
    ‘No, we’re sorry,’ Summer says. ‘We should have given you a chance. It’s just – Cherry’s cool. She’s our stepsister, and she’s had a rough time, and nobody – NOBODY – is allowed to hurt her.’
    ‘I wouldn’t,’ I argue. ‘I won’t!’
    ‘Better tell her that,’ Skye laughs.
    I take another piece of gravel and aim higher,but this time the pebble hits the roof and skids down the slates again with a clatter. Abruptly, the turret room lights up and Honey’s window swings open.
    ‘About time,’ she calls down. ‘Have I missed the big apology?’
    ‘No,’ I huff. ‘Give me a chance. I wasn’t counting on having an audience …’
    ‘Too bad,’ Honey drawls. ‘You’ve woken us up, you’d better entertain us now.’
    Another light snaps on, over to the right, and Coco’s window creaks open. ‘Is that you, Shay?’ she wants to know.
    ‘Who else would it be?’ Skye yells across. ‘We don’t usually have random teenage boys wandering about the garden in the middle of the night, do we?’
    ‘You never know, with you lot!’ Coco smirks. ‘This is SO slushy! Are you serenading her, Shay? Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?’
    ‘Cut it out,’ I say. ‘It’s not funny!’
    ‘It is from where I’m standing,’ Honey says, and Coco pushes her window open wider, settling herself on the window sill with her violin. A whining dirge begins to swirl out into the darkness, and in the kitchen Fred the dog begins to whine along in tune. On the plus side, if the pebble-throwing doesn’t wake Cherry, the violin solo definitely will. Ouch.
    The downstairs lights flare into life, the kitchen door opens and Paddy and Charlotte appear on the doorstep in PJs and dressing gowns.
    ‘What the heck is going on?’ Paddy demands. ‘Is this some kind of midnight garden party, or are you just casing the joint for a possible burglary? Shay?’
    ‘I can explain,’ I say, alarmed. ‘If I could just talk to Cherry …’
    ‘Finally,’ Charlotte says. ‘Can you two just make up, please? I can’t take any more of the tears and moping.’
    ‘Somebody wake Cherry, for goodness’ sake,’ Honey grumbles. ‘We’ll be here